This invention relates generally to recording systems and, more particularly, to eliminating ESD (electrostatic discharge) exposure for read/write heads with heating elements and tribocharging at the head/disk interface.
Current read/write heads with TFC (thermal flying-height control) technology utilizes a heater integrated near the read/write head structure to control the spacing between the read/write element and the magnetic recording disk. If a single ended power supply is used to power the heater, the mean voltage at the heater will not be zero. This may cause some charges to appear on the lower MR (magnetoresistive) shield of the MR read assembly of the head structure, which is exposed to the disk surface of the magnetic disk separated by the carbon overcoat and air. The presence of the charges may give rise to an ESD event between the lower MR shield and the disk surface or cause charging of the disk surface resulting in possible ESD events or other adverse consequences of tribocharging such as lube degradation.